An 18-year-old man was fatally shot by police just blocks from his home in the city's South Shore neighborhood Friday night.

Officers were on patrol about 10:10 p.m. when they responded to a call of shots fired near East 71st Street and South Paxton Avenue.

The officers spotted a van traveling at a high rate of speed and gave chase, police said. The officers pursued the van down an alleyway between Paxton and Merrill avenues, and a passenger of the van jumped out and began running, police said.

Officers, who police say were in uniform, followed the man on foot, and the van continued fleeing. When the man reached 74th Street, police say he pointed a gun at the officers. One of the officers fired twice, fatally hitting the man. The 18-year-old died on the scene, according to police.

He was later identified as Jeffery Kemp, of the 7400 block of South Jeffery Boulevard, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. Police initially said they believed the man to be in his early 20s.

Police said a handgun was recovered on the scene. Following the shooting, police taped off more than a block of 74th Street. Houses lined the quiet block where Kemp's body lay in the middle of the street following the shooting, the top portion of his body covered by a white sheet.

On the east side of the scene, some neighbors watched from their front yards as more than a dozen officers worked behind yellow tape. At one point, a small group of people trying to learn if they knew who was killed ducked under the tape and had to be blocked by police.